Crowds cheer Pope Francis as he arrives for Mass

In a show of simplicity and setting out his credentials as a pontiff in touch
with ordinary people, Pope Francis chose to celebrate Mass on Sunday at the
small Vatican church of Santa'Anna.

12:00PM GMT 17 Mar 2013

The church is located on the edge of Vatican territory close to the Sant'Anna Gate where visitors often stop to catch a glimpse of the famous Swiss Guards.

A crowd was at the gate on Sunday morning to catch a glimpse of the new Popeand they were not disappointed.

The Pope stepped out of a plain black car and immediately began shaking hands and blessing babies.

The small church was packed and many congregants were unable to find seats.

The focus of Pope Francis' papacy began to emerge the previous day as he offered some intimate insights into the conclave that elected him pontiff, describing how he was immediately inspired to name himself after St Francis of Assisi because he wants to see a church that is "for the poor."

"The Lord never gets tired of forgiving, never. It's us who get tired of asking him forgiveness, because He never gets tired to forgive," stressed Francis during his Sunday homily in the small Sant'Anna church inside the Vatican.

At the end of the mass, Francis unexpectedly walked to the podium again, and talked about a priest from Uruguay whom he spotted among the faithful attending the service.

Don Gonsalvo stood up while Francis was talking about his work with street children and drug-addicts for whom he built a school.

His comments provided further evidence that this first Latin American papacy would be one that looks beyond the confines of the church itself to the most disadvantaged.

Francis of Assisi, from whom the new Pope took his name, as an early 13th-century friar who renounced a wealthy, dissolute lifestyle to embrace a life of poverty and simplicity and travelled out into the countryside to preach a message of joy and peace.

Some 100,000 people are expected to crowd into St Peter's Square at noon, when the pope's studio window is opened for the first time since Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI gave his last window blessing on Sunday, February 24. Four days later, Benedict went into retirement, the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.